My reasons for starting this blog.

My quiet place

Ever since I can remember, a blank sheet of paper, and a pen or pencil have always been a great source of happiness for me.  They signify opportunity (to write that one great story, book etc.), support for times when life seemed difficult and lonely, a way to maintain a precious friendship,  or to offer an emotional prop to someone going through a rough time, and a means of capturing a special moment in a lifetime in a picture created with words.  All this and more. If I was really honest I would have to admit that I would much prefer to sit down and write an email than ring someone, or even visit someone for a chat, and I have always preferred a typed conversation on Skype to an audio one. Writing gives me a chance to think before I say anything, to calm down when I'm angry, and I can edit, reread, to my heart's content until I'm happy with the result, whereas I have often said things I wished I didn't say.  Of course with writing there is always plenty of room for misinterpretation, without the inflection of my voice or the twinkle in my eye to take the sting out of something, so it's important to couch whatever I say in the nicest way possible.

When I learnt to type it meant that, at last, my fingers could keep up with my thoughts and the end result was still legible.  But there have been times when I’ve looked back at those simple paper and pen days with nostalgia, especially when I put a floppy disc/USB stick/Storage device into my computer and read the dreaded words ‘this disc needs to be formatted’, or the computer won’t work and needs to be reformatted which meant that ALL my precious moments were gone..... off into some cyber graveyard somewhere.

I have heard it said that you should write about what you know, so really I don’t know how I’ve managed to fill so many pages over the years. It must be the written form of the ‘gift of the gab’.  I can’t really imagine anyone being that interested in what I have to say, but I have seen films and read books based on, and built around, one simple premise, so I know that it’s not always just what you have to say but also how you say it.   Sometimes it is atmosphere that keeps you reading or watching and sometimes it’s the language and how it’s used.  And, of course if you get both together then you have a winner. 

I don’t know if I have a winner inside me but I do know that I have this urge to write, and that, whenever I do, I always feel so much lighter and happier and more at peace with the world, even when nobody else ever reads it. I have friends who like to craft, or cook, or bake, or draw, or sew, and who have a passion for their chosen pastime, but we all have the same outcome whenever we are able to indulge in our passions…. we are all happier, nicer, and, dare I say it, better people, for it.

I have hesitated to write a blog before now for a few reasons:  In my opinion, for a blog to be really interesting it has to be personal, and to give away something about the author, and I have always tried my very best, whenever I’m online, to be very private about me, and those I love (and also those I don’t particularly love!).  Like most people, I’m not an island, and whatever I say, in public, has a ripple effect on those who are, in some way, connected to me, and I feel a responsibility to protect their privacy.  And I am acutely aware that my memory of events that include others, whom I love, may differ greatly from their recollections due to the fact that we are all so diverse and incidents can affect us all in different ways

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My urge to write has finally overcome my misgivings and so I’m dipping my toe into the Blogosphere, because I feel the discipline of a blog will help me to write on a regular basis, and at least I know my writing will all be safely stored away in one place inshallah.

So…. as my Dad often said ‘Stand back and let the dog see the rabbit’!!! 

My place of refuge from all life's problems